SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) -- North and South Korea briefly exchanged gunshots on Monday in the first such skirmish on their heavily armed border in just over a year, a military official said.

A North Korean soldier picks up a stone to throw at photographers.

There were no reports of any casualties.

"A few shots were fired from the North, and a few warning shots were fired [back] from this side," the official with the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Reuters.

The shooting came a day before the start of working level talks among regional powers, including the two Koreas, in the South Korean side of the buffer zone that has divided the peninsula for more than half a century.

The talks are part of a wider international effort to persuade North Korea to end its nuclear weapons program in exchange for aid.